In our lyrics, we tend to write about the same things over and over. We all have our themes: love, romantic love, romance, sexual love, sex, loss. commitment, betrayal, optimism, skepticism, joy, anger, heartbreak, even obsession itself… among many others… They seem to embed themselves in our songs no matter how we try to guide […]

Every song, by definition, balances music and lyrics. How well a song works often has to do with how well that balance is struck. On the spectrum of great songwriting, I think of Burt Bacharach and Hal David as being at one extreme. Complicated music, direct lyrics. The simple perfection of David’s lyrics can often […]

Much has been made of the recent success of Adele – her powerful singing, throwback soulfulness, old school production, emotional directness… All true, but what struck me right away about her songs was the length and legato quality of her melodies – unusual in an era where singing (particularly on strongly rhythmic songs) is more […]

Welcome to a weekly blog I’ll be writing on songwriting- and music-related subjects! I couldn’t think of a better place to start than with Chuck Berry. It’s easy to take him for granted at this point in musical history… but that would be a mistake. Even though a lot of his songs (like Johnny B. […]